I'm Steve - I've been the pastor of GPC since the summer of 1992. It really has been a privilege and a joy for me to serve as pastor in and for this great community. Here's some basic info…

My background: I attended UCSB in the early 70s. By my junior year, I'd made some bad choices and got myself in a tough spot. I was an atheist at the time so thought I was all on my one. But one night in the midst of a crisis, I prayed. Several days later I realized a small, something like a calm light had entered the very core of my soul. From that point on I knew God existed and I would be OK. Several years later, through a relationship with the woman who is now my wife, I began attending a Presbyterian church in San Diego and began to see the connection between Christ and that calm light. That led to moving back east to Princeton Seminary, where I graduated in 1981. I served two other churches, one in Santa Paula and one in rural Washington State, before coming here in 1992.

Special interests: Over the years, I've done work in several areas beyond regular congregational work: the role of spirituality in the lives of transformational leaders, the role of faith in secular work, the way in which digital, high-speed technology is changing our personal lives and spiritual practices and, more recently, interfaith work with the local Jewish and Muslim congregations.

Favorite music: I like all kinds, particularly opera (Puccini and Wagner), Bach, Mahler, contemporary classical (Argo Part, Lou Harrison and John Adams), Neil Young, and good funky dance music.

Favorite movies: Godfather, Part 1; Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, The Mission, and The Natural.

Favorite books: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry, The Divine Comedy by Dante, and Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

Hobbies: I love to travel, garden, bike, play baseball, follow the Dodgers, and hang out at Goleta Beach.

Family: I am married, have three daughters (ages 30, 21, and 17), a grandson, a dog (Sophie, 8) and three chickens (Scarlet Johannsen, Kiera Knightly, and Audrey Hepburn.)